In recent years, it has become commonplace to use plastic receptacles for receiving leaves, trash, rubbish and soiled linens. These plastic receptacles are often in the nature of bags which are inexpensive, and when full may be disposed of with little expense. Most commonly, such plastic bags are used independently of any other device, and are simply filled with the trash, garbage or the like and then tied shut and discarded.
In other use, these bags may be inserted into a rigid or semi-rigid trash container, much like a liner, and the top of the bag is turned down over the top of the container to hold the bag open and in place in the container. Trash, soiled linens and other such materials are then simply placed into the bag inside the container, and when the bag is full, it is removed from the container, tied and dealt with in an appropriate manner. However, bags utilized in this manner are seldom filled to capacity, and have a tendency to fall back into the container during the fill procedure.
The Kelson U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,800 entitled "Trash Bag Caddy" which issued Nov. 8, 1983 discloses a rigid hoop and rod base for holding a flexible trash bag in an open position for receiving leaves, trash, debris and the like. This arrangement, however, involves a relatively expensive device entirely incapable of being shipped in a small container if for no reason other than the ring or hoop 11 is of one-piece construction.
The Garvey U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,697 entitled "Bag Holder" which issued Dec. 18, 1984 likewise involves an arrangement for holding a thin plastic trash bag in an open position for the receipt of leaves or the like, but this device necessitates the use of several large circular members including an outwardly flared flange, a gasket and an upper retaining ring. Obviously these components are of substantial diameter, and quite unfortunately, they cannot be readily disassembled and shipped in a small, flat container.
The Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,967 entitled "Portable Flexible Bag Holder" which issued Feb. 13, 1990 is capable of being broken down into circular components of lesser size, but this patent is of obviously expensive construction and requires the use of external clamps for holding the thin plastic bag to the supporting rings.
The Brooks U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,226 entitled "Universal Collapsible Bag Support Stand" which issued Feb. 2, 1993 represents a bag holder of a collapsible design that is capable of being stored in a relatively small volume, but it does not feature any highly effective means for clamping the entire periphery of the open end of a thin plastic bag in a tight, non-slip manner.
It is in an effort to improve upon these and other prior art devices that the present invention was evolved.